Italy.

Italy preserves riserva — a forced-heirship system under Codice civile Articles 536–542 protecting legittimari (descendants, ascendants, spouse). The imposta di successione imposes inheritance tax at 4% (spouse and direct line, above €1 million abatement), 6% (siblings and other relatives, with smaller or no abatement), and 8% (all others). D.Lgs. 139/2024, in force from 1 January 2025, restructured the regime — introducing self-assessment (autoliquidazione), simplifying notification, and modernizing trust treatment.

Italy is bound by EU Succession Regulation 650/2012, with the law of the decedent’s habitual residence as default and optional professio juris election. The Italian rules also accommodate trusts — recognized under the Hague Trusts Convention 1985 (Italy ratified 1989) and progressively integrated into Italian tax law. The Patto di famiglia under Articles 768-bis to 768-octies Codice civile provides a special inter vivos succession instrument for family-business transfers, exempt from inheritance and gift tax under specified conditions.

The memoranda in this series address the recurring fact patterns in Italian cross-border estate planning — including the riserva tension with Canadian and US testamentary freedom, the US–Italy 1955 Estate Tax Treaty mechanics, the post-D.Lgs. 139/2024 self-assessment regime, the Italian non-domiciled flat-tax regime under Article 24-bis TUIR for inbound HNW individuals, the patto di famiglia for family-business succession, and the absence of a Canada–Italy estate treaty.